Nashville, TN – Country music star and award-winning TV host Craig Morgan had a hugely successful weekend at his 7th Annual Charity event, gathering motocross celebrities, country stars, and fans to enjoy the beautiful middle Tennessee weather and some great musical moments!

The event took place on Saturday, Sept 14th, in Morgan’s hometown of Dickson, TN. All proceeds benefit Billy’s Place, a component fund of the Dickson County Craig Morgan Foundation. The organization’s primary goal is to assist foster children in Dickson County and throughout Middle Tennessee.

The day kicked off with an exhibition from several major motocross celebrities including Jimmy Albertson, Destry Abbott, Fred Andrews, Brett Cue, Randy Hawkins, Andrew Short, and Larry Ward, followed by a group trail ride and lunch.

Poland’s Taddy Blazusiak earned his second Los Angeles X Games Enduro X gold medal in three years by riding a flawless main event. The KTM rider withstood heavy pressure first from his teammate Mike Brown and later from Colton Haaker on the Lucas Oil JCR Honda but both riders made mistakes that allowed Blazusiak to hold a narrow gap to the finish.

Brown recovered from a few small mistakes to take the silver medal and Beta’s Cody Webb rode a consistent race to take the bronze medal in his first race back from a broken foot. Haaker finished fourth and Monster Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert took fifth.

The Monster Energy Off-Road team is set to tackle the 45th annual SCORE Baja 1000. With a massive team of five trophy trucks, One 6-truck, and one bike team The Monster Energy Off-Road team will be in the hunt for the overall win as well as multiple class wins.

The 1,121 mile battle down the treacherous Baja peninsula will begin at 6:30am Thursday morning November 16th in Ensenada, Baja, CA with the start of the bikes. The 4-wheel vehicles will start 5 hours later at 11:30am. The race will continue non-stop through the night ending just outside of La Paz, Baja Sur, CA. The bikes are expected to make it to the finish some 19 hours later near 1:30am if they can maintain a 60-mph average. The four wheel vehicles will are expected to arrive a few hours later near 6:30am.

Boise, ID – The penultimate round of the 2012 GEICO AMA EnduroCross series took place inside the Idaho Center, just west of Boise and the packed house witnessed racing on the toughest EnduroCross track yet. The difficult track created a lot of action and KTM’s Taddy Blazusiak took another win despite a last lap crash that allowed Beta’s Cody Webb to get within striking difference. Husqvarna’s Cory Graffunder withstood pressure from multiple riders to earn the last podium position.

Lucas Oil backed Colton Haaker finally managed to stand on top of the results for the MVP Racing Hot Laps. The top 35 riders in the night show do a single lap against the clock to earn the best picks for the heat races. Haaker had finished second at the previous two rounds but this time he managed to set the fastest time ahead of Webb and Mike Brown. Blazusiak had two minor crashes during his lap and finished 17th.

Haaker won the first heat race over Ryan Sandoval. Blazusiak took the holeshot and won heat two over Webb despite a bad gate pick. Graffunder won heat three over GEICO Honda’s Geoff Aaron. In the semi’s, Kyle Redmond, Justin Soule and Gary Sutherlin won to get the only spots in the main. Then in the LCQ, Bobby Prochnau and Jamie Lanza took the last two spots for the main. Taylor Robert, second in the championship points coming into this event missed qualifying for the main. “This was a really tough track and it was difficult to race because you had to focus on getting through the obstacles”, Robert said. Destry Abbott, Bryan Roper, Bobby Garrison, Eric Rhoten and Keith Wineland were also among the riders that missed the cut. KTM’s Mike Brown chose to call it a night after the heat race due to an unknown illness that has been bothering him for the last few weeks.

Everett, WA – A sold out Comcast Arena in Everett, Washington hosted round six of the GEICO AMA EnduroCross series and witnessed an amazing night of racing. Although KTM’s Taddy Blazusiak got another win, he was challenged again by Beta’s Cody Webb who passed him and then led several laps before sliding out in a simple turn of all things. Blazusiak regained the lead but Webb remained close until two laps from the end when he stalled his bike and could not get it to re-fire and eventually went a lap down and finished tenth. Monster Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert fought through the pack to take second position. The battle for third raged until the last lap when top Canadian off road racer, Bobby Prochnau took the position away from Mike Brown.

Corona, CA – A broken foot isn’t going to stop factory Husqvarna’s Cory Graffunder from claiming his first championship of 2012. The X Games medalist recently suffered a season-threatening crash at Glen Helen that caused him to sit out the Cahuilla Creek round of the World Off Road Championship Series (WORCS). But the Canadian is going to tough it out this weekend in Montana to claim the AMA West Hare Scrambles number one plate at the Kenda Big Sky XC presented by Klim.

“I had a scary get-off at Glen Helen,” Graffunder recalled. “I had a mid-air collision with another rider and crashed hard and basically smashed the ball of my foot. I had surgery on it a few weeks ago and just got the pins out last week.”

KTM’s Taddy Blazusiak took the win ahead of a fierce battle for the other two podium positions. Monster Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert worked his way up to second after a last place start and GEICO Honda’s Kevin Rookstool held on for third despite a few crashes.

SACRAMENTO, California – Red Bull/KTM rider Taddy Blazusiak claimed his fist win of the 2012 AMA EnduroCross Series at the second round of the circuit held at Power Balance Pavilion. His teammate, Factory FMF/KTM rider Mike Brown, also put in a good ride to secure 5th overall for the night.

In his heat race, from an inside gate, Blazusiak jumped out front quickly to take the holeshot. Blazusiak led all six laps of his heat race to easily transfer to the main event.

Brown also had a great start to his heat taking the early lead after the first corner. Unfortunately, Brown suffered a crash on the second lap but was able to recover without losing the lead. He continued to pull ahead until a small mistake on the next lap cost him the lead. He was able to hang on to 2nd place to take the final transfer spot to the main event.

With the temperature well above the century mark, training, hydration and planning were added to the formula of speed and talent as Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert took round five of the WORCS Series in Surprise Arizona. Robert, an Arizona native, was well equipped to deal with the 105 degree temperature at the Speedworld course as he went 1-1 and extended is points lead in the WORCS Series.

While many of the top Pro riders struggled with the heat Robert rode with his usual speed, cutting a blistering 9:07 fastest lap to outdistance the all-star field of racers. Quick pit stops and teamwork were also a factor as Robert finished more than a full minute ahead of the rest of the field in both races to take the overall.

“I like it this track because it’s challenging,” said Robert. “The heat didn’t bother me today and I’m looking forward to the next round in Adelanto. Kawasaki has built me a great motorcycle and the team is the best in off-road right now. We’re working really hard this year to win races and stay focused on the WORCS Championship.”

Irvine, Calif. – Temperatures reached the triple digits in Surprise, Ariz., this weekend for Round 4 of World Off Road Championship Series (WORCS) at Speedworld MX Park. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert took early control of both races, going 1-1 on the weekend in front of his hometown crowd. Despite finishing sixth on Saturday, teammate Bobby Garrison finished second on Sunday to claim second overall. Justin Soulé finished strong in third place Saturday, but could only manage eighth on Sunday and finished sixth overall. Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Green’s Gary Sutherlin completed Kawasaki’s sweep of the podium in third place. Hometown hero, Destry Abbott competed in his first WORCS race of the year finishing eighth overall. In the Pro 2 class, Team Green’s Justin Seeds got the early lead and ran away with the win.

Taking Charge
In Saturday’s 60-minute moto, Robert got off to a decent start aboard his KX™450F and came around the first corner in fourth. As they headed into the off-road section, Robert knew he had to make his passes fast before losing too much time on the leaders. Before the end of the first lap the leader missed the pit entrance allowing Robert to fly by. The battle ensued as Robert was stalked by second place for three laps before building a gap. By the checkered flag Robert had established a 40-second lead.